GRÍSHA bursts out laughing.
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. Stop, stop! [NEGLIGÉNTOV ceases. To GRÍSHA] What are you laughing at?
GRÍSHA. The member dances very comically.
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. What do you mean, "member"?
GRÍSHA. Why, he himself tells us all that he is a member in the court, not a copy-clerk. And so they call him the member.
NEGLIGÉNTOV. I call myself the member, although falsely, but expressly for the respect of the court menials, and in order to escape scoffing and insult.
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. Be gone, and don't you ever dare to show yourself to me!
NEGLIGÉNTOV. Uncle says that I fell into loose living because of my bachelor life, and that I may get mired in it unless you show me your favor.
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. No, no, never!
NEGLIGÉNTOV. [On his knees] Uncle told me to beg you with tears, because I am a lost man, subject to many vices, and, without your favor, I shall not be tolerated in the civil service.